re: #362 HoosierHoops

Can Fortran even calculate complex Matrix numbers? Me thinks it will throw an exception… This is one of the most complex mathematical models known to man..
A simple language that knows how to add 2+2 isn’t needed here..
Do you think Lawrence Livermore Lab uses Fortran to compute a Nuclear reaction?
1. I don’t care about millions of lines of legacy code
2. I don’t care if Scientists are used to using old school compilers
3. I want to spend Billions to upgrade and give them modern tools
4. Unless I work at Wal-Mart and need to know Inventory levels..Don’t talk to me about Fortran…
5. 99.9% of all computer programs in the world are Not written in Fortran
There is a reason for that…It’s an old shit compiler
*wink*

Fortran excels at matrix calculations. The original LINPACK linear algebra package - the gold standard benchmark for computational matrix algorithms - was originally written in Fortran, and it’s performance in that language remains unequaled.

Modern languages, in fact, are often a very poor choice where performance is critical. C++, for example, is often an order of magnitude slower than equivalent C code, thanks to virtual function lookups required to resolve inheritance hierarchies, and because it’s syntactical complexity defies efficient compiler optimization.

I write scientific image processing software, and although I reach for C++ where it’s appropriate - mostly for user interface related tasks - C is the standby when time-critical portions of code are encountered. And we still occasionally use Fortran routines where the effort to rewrite a highly optimized algorithm simply isn’t worth it when a workable Fortran routine already exists.